World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

AMERICASFreedom of ExpressionThe government maintains a media monopoly on the island, ensuring that freedomof expression is virtually nonexistent. Although a small number of independentjournalists manage to write articles for foreign websites or maintain independentblogs, they must publish their work through back channels—writing fromhome computers, saving information on memory sticks, and uploading articlesand posts through illegal internet connections. Others dictate articles to contactsabroad. The risks associated with these activities are considerable. For example,blogger Luis Felipe Rojas of Holguin has repeatedly been arbitrarily detained,interrogated, and threatened by authorities for his work. In May 2010, soldiersand police surrounded his house for six days. He was arrested in Septemberalong with five human rights defenders when he traveled to attend a pro-democracymeeting, and again in October.The government controls all media outlets in Cuba and access to outside informationis highly restricted. Only a tiny fraction of Cubans have the chance to readindependently published articles and blogs because of the high cost of, and limitedaccess to, the internet: an hour of internet use costs one-third of Cubans’monthly wages and is only available in a few government-run centers.Human Rights DefendersRefusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the Cubangovernment denies legal status to local human rights groups. The governmentalso employs harassment, beatings, and imprisonment to punish human rightsdefenders who attempt to document abuses. For example, in October 2010 twomembers of the Women in White were detained as they marched in Havana holdinga banner that read: “Down with racism and long live human rights.” Policetransferred them to a police station and beat them, fracturing one woman’s noseand the other’s wrist, and held them without access to communications for sevenhours.235